I only have a few minutes here. Just so folks don’t forget me already, I’m going to drop a quick rant.
“Oh I LOVE Thai peanut sauce. I had this Thai chicken salad the other day and it was just divine.”
If I only get a dime everytime I hear someone tells me that. Actually, if I could get a $100 for every person who is completely surprised when I told them that peanut and/or peanut sauce is not the key ingredient of Thai food.
Thai chicken pizza. Pizza with chicken, bean sprouts, and peanut sauce. Thai chicken salad. Crisp lettuce, crunchy noodles, and peanut dressing.
Thais don’t put PEANUT SAUCE on everything, people. And not every food item that is Thai has peanuts in it.
Peanut sauce and the only thing you’d use it with is to dip your pork Satay in. A few plates that typically have peanuts tossed in would be Pad Thai and Tom Yum noodles of some kind.
I REFUSE to order any food item that said “Thai” in it.
I guess we’re fighting the stereotypification (is that a word, President Bush?) of food the same way as other cultures. Like ham and pineapple comes to be “Hawaiian”, sesame oil and crunchy noodles comes to be “Chinese”. And “California” rolls? Puh-lease! Avocado is not all that Californian. But I digress.
Back to our fight against faux Thai food.
Next time you dine out, help defy such silly myth about Thai food and NOT order Thai chicken salad. If you want Thai food, visit your local Thai restaurant.
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